COUNCIL BY-ELECTION 09.04.26

This week we had just one solitary by-election, a notional Reform defence in Kent.  The incumbent left office as an independent, having been disqualified after pleading guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour (towards his wife).  Cllr Daniel Taylor was arrested and charged just a month after being elected and was promptly suspended by Reform.  He was jailed for a year last month.

This will be the first council by-election since Reform took control of Kent in May and challengers will be seeking to turn it into a damaging referendum on their administration.  Reform were miles ahead of second-placed Labour in this ward last May, but that was before anyone had a chance to see what a Reform council would look like.  Things haven't exactly gone smoothly, which is perhaps no great surprise for a party whose rapid electoral success has outpaced its ability to organise itself.  The chaos in the council house, combined with the nature of the incumbent's dismissal, suggests that Reform will struggle in this by-election.

The Greens thought they could stage an unlikely gain here and bussed in activists, with even Zack Polanski hitting the campaign trail earlier this week.  They would require an exceptionally strong swing in a ward that is not traditionally left-oriented, having finished a distant fourth last May.  We fancied a Conservative gain, with the Greens overtaking Labour.  As it turned out, the Greens overtook everybody in what turned out to be a shock result.  The swing to the Greens mostly came at the expense of Labour, who slumped to fourth from second.  Not a terrible result for Reform, considering the background, but a result that the Greens will be crowing about for the next week.

Cliftonville, Kent County Council

Grn: 2,068 (38.8%) +26.7%

Ref: 1,767 (33.1%) -7.0%

Con: 811 (15.2%) -4.5%

Lab: 557 (10.4%) -11.6%

Ind: 68 (1.3%) New

LDm: 63 (1.2%) -1.9%

Grn GAIN from Ref

M&S PLEA FOR HELP

Stuart Machin and Thinus Keeve of Marks and Sparks

Top bosses at Marks and Spencers have issued desperate pleas for politicians to crack down on the scourge of shoplifting - a criminal act that affects us all through higher retail prices.  Chief executive Stuart Machin has written to the Home Secretary, while retail director Thinus Keeve has written to the London Mayor following the disturbing scenes in Clapham recently.

They know, as well as anyone else, that the problem is only going to get worse - with little, if anything, to deter the thieves.  Keeve's letter to Sadiq Khan was accompanied by a public statement (see below) in which he lashed out at the Mayor's policing policies, including a dig at Khan's repeated claims that 'crime is falling' and the absurd suggestion that 'London is one of the safest cities in the world'.

This is Mr Keeve's public statement in full, originally published on the company's website:

"I keep hearing crime is falling, especially in London - something none of us believe and very few people working in retail would see. In fact, we see the absolute opposite in our High Streets and in our stores, where our colleagues are on the receiving end of abuse and violence in their workplace every day.

It is becoming more brazen, more organised and more aggressive.

Across the UK, there were around 5.5 million incidents of shoplifting last year, and that excludes the vast number that go unreported. Every day, more than 1,600 retail workers face violence or abuse. This is not isolated. It is systemic and it is getting worse, not better.

And behind every statistic is a colleague who is simply trying to do their job and serve their customers.

As Retail Director at M&S, I see this reality every day. I see the hurt and listen to the concerns of colleagues and customers after an attack in a shop. 

In the past week alone we have had gangs forcing open locked cabinets and stripping shelves, two men brazenly emptying the shelves of steak and walking out, a large group of young people ransacking a store before assaulting a security guard, a colleague headbutted trying to defuse a situation and another hospitalised after having ammonia thrown in their face.

It is worse in London, but it is happening across the country, and it is becoming routine, because it seems there are no consequences. 

Our colleagues come to work to serve customers, build relationships and take pride in what they do. Instead, too many are dealing with theft, intimidation and verbal and physical abuse as part of their daily reality. That erodes confidence. It impacts wellbeing and it drives people out of the industry.

And that matters beyond retail.

Retail is where many people in the UK start their working lives. It is where confidence is built, skills are learned and careers begin. When stores become unsafe, we are not just failing retail workers. We are failing the next generation of the workforce.

The industry is not standing still. Retailers have invested billions in security, technology and loss prevention. At M&S we’ve invested more in the last year than ever before - tens of millions to protect our stores, our stock and most importantly our people, using tools like ‘Auror’, a crime fighting partnership which helps us identify repeat offenders and work more effectively with police forces.

But investment alone is not enough and the level of crime we face in so many communities is not something retailers can solve alone. We put in cameras, guards and systems, but it does not stop colleagues being abused or stores being damaged.

Without a government seriously cracking down on crime and a Mayor that prioritises effective policing we are powerless. We need a stronger, faster and more consistent police response, using tools that already exist to target repeat offenders and crime hotspots.

And we need far greater transparency on crime so the true scale and impact is understood and can be used to target resources.

That’s why our Chief Executive, Stuart Machin, has written to the Home Secretary and I’ve written to the Mayor of London, calling for exactly this. 

It’s a clear ask: Support our police. Help them show up in our communities when and where we need them. Give them the resources they need to tackle crime effectively and ensure they work with retailers to consistently use the tools we’ve developed to share data and help them actively target offenders.

This is not complicated. The capability exists. The data exists. The investment has been made. Time is up, we need to deal with this now.

Because every day this continues, colleagues are being verbally abused, threatened or worse. Every day, confidence in our high streets is being chipped away and this has to stop.

Retail is a cornerstone of the UK economy and a vital part of every community. But more than that, it is a human business. It depends on people feeling safe coming to work and safe walking into stores.

Right now, that is under threat, more than I have ever seen in decades of working in retail around the world.

We need to recognise this for what it is. A systemic issue. A growing issue. And one that demands a co-ordinated response across government, policing and industry.

Our colleagues deserve better."

Hear, hear.

The phenomenon of 'link-up looting', as seen in Clapham, is largely inspired by similar incidents that have plagued Californian cities in particular.  Mobs of youths arrange to meet up en masse to target shopping centres or specific stores, overwhelming security and police.  It has become such a problem in places like Los Angeles that smaller businesses have been forced to close permanently and bigger retail stores have threatened to leave the state altogether.

Incidents of mass looting usually coincides with school holidays and that's exactly what we saw recently over Easter, with the Clapham incidents followed by similar mobs targeting Birmingham city centre and a shopping centre in Milton Keynes.  The M&S guys would never admit it publicly, but this is the predictable result of a multi-cultural society paired with wider social decay, a collapse in morality and the complete absence of judicial deterrent.  

Those behind these recent orchestrated acts of lawlessness were quite possibly emboldened by the leftist looting that immediately preceded it.  Keffiyeh-clad leftists from the 'Take Back Power' group have filmed themselves brazenly filling shopping trolleys and walking out of supermarkets without paying for the goods.  These ideological thieves use Marxist language to justify their actions, claiming to 'redistribute food from the wealthy to those in need'.  Seeing as their actions will push up retail prices for everybody, this is complete nonsense.

With a combination of brazen communists styling themselves as modern day merry men (or merry they/thems), gangs of largely Afro-Caribbean youths on the rampage and the ever-spiralling cost of living, this year's summer school holidays could be chaotic.

TOON TUESDAY #98

A bit of a mixed bag this week, with references to defence, farm tax, the moon mission, price of oil, net zero and Easter.  We begin with Morten Morland's all-inclusive April Fools cartoon...

Morten Morland for The Times

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Sunday Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Jimbob on X

MEME MONDAY #77

The big lefty march in London was very much in focus last week, with multiple angles of hypocrisy ripe for exploitation.  Hope you've all had a wonderful Easter weekend.  God bless you (even the lefties)...

Mon 30 Mar - 239 shares.  The irony is lost on the keffiyeh-clad goons

Tue 31 Mar - 17 shares.  The Beeb even forked out over half a million
in licence fee money to repair this statue after two attacks on it by
irate members of the public.  They have even put a protective box
around it to prevent further damage.  Gill was not simply a
paedophile, he sexually abused his own daughters and engaged in
both incest and bestiality.  Sick, sick BBC

Tue 31 Mar - 212 shares.  The audience for this debauchery was
overwhelmingly white middle-class, not a Muslim in sight

Wed 1 Apr - 78 shares

Wed 1 Apr - 9 shares.  Hannah Spencer is turning out to be one of the biggest
narcissists in Westminster, who keeps herself busy producing silly videos for
social media and photo shoots like the one you can see here - none of which
helps her constituents, but does feed her ego

Thu 2 Apr - 80 shares.  Josh knew exactly what he was doing and his point was
proven.  More hypocrisy and double standards from the left

Thu 2 Apr - 50 shares

Fri 3 Apr - 385 shares.  The above differs ever so slightly from the
version on Facebook and we can only apologise to our followers - 
contrary to the Facebook version, Charles did post a message for
Lent. The point remains the same, our globalist scum monarch is
far too engratiating towards Islam

Fri 3 Apr - 0 shares

Sat 4 Apr - 54 shares

Sun 5 Apr - 20 shares

Karl has added a fourth design for the 'Diversity is Strength' series.  This new one, featuring Sadiq Khan, will be deployed for the capital.  It appears that the Golders Green attack was a homegrown Islamist attack after-all, not an Iranian attack as many had proposed in the comments the previous week.  There are far too many who believe the propaganda about 'Iranian sleeper cells'.  If there are so many, what are they waiting for?

You can help our campaign by purchasing a couple of metaphorical pints here or by donating via PayPal.  This helps keep things paid for and serves as a morale booster, showing that our efforts are truly appreciated!

Thank you.

HAPPY EASTER

We had no plans for an Easter video this year, but then Richey's girlfriend surprises him with the generic chocolate eggs (again).  A hastily produced video ensued...

LONDON CLOWN SHOW 2026

Karl has been busier than usual on YouTube in the past week, thanks to some spare time.  Over several days he managed to compile a montage of clips from the big London march last weekend, introduced by none other than Claudia Webbe.  Remember her?

She was the short-lived Labour MP for Leicester East who was stripped of the party whip less than twelve months into her term as successor to the equally controversial Keith Vaz.  Having been found guilty of harassment, she escaped a recall petition by virtue of a suspended sentence and limped on as an independent to the 2024 election.  Thanks to her refusal to let go of the Westminster gravy train, she managed to deliver the only Conservative gain of that election by standing as an independent - holding onto more than half the Labour vote and turning the seat blue for the first time since 1987.

Anyway, if you want a good laugh at the depraved left - watch this video...

BOATWATCH #53

A flurry of boats on the first day of April certainly made fools of the British people who continue to suffer the daily consequences of colonisation, while footing the bill to pay for it.  Crossings may be down significantly from the same point this time last year, but if Iran becomes a failed state on the back of Trump's disastrous war we can expect another wave of Iranian refugees - only they won't be liberals fleeing the Mullahs this time, quite the opposite.

Total = 325 (down 137 from previous week)

SIR QUEER AND THE TERRORIST

We had a bit of fun with Ahmed al-Sharaa's controversial visit to Downing Street last week.  Make what you will of Richey's voiceover work here...

BURGON'S ISRAELI OWN GOAL

Dickie Burgon travelled to Cuba last week alongside former Labour comrade Jeremy Corbyn and those cheeky Gaelic rappers from Kneecap.  The band of Brit-hating commies were ostensibly delivering medical aid to the communist state, which has endured a US embargo since 1960.  Presumably they were not bold enough to try and crack the Israeli embargo of Gaza, as that would actually physical danger.  It seems that the Kneecap boys are not as tough as they make out, despite banging on about Palestine 365 days a year.

Anyway, speaking of Israel...

Not for the first time, community notes on X has brutally rinsed a politician.  Poor Dickie was not simply delivering medical aid, he was delivering medical aid sourced from the hated Israel!

Burgon was also corrected on his assertion that the embargo is somehow Trump's fault, despite the fact he was barely in high school when the US imposed sanctions against Cuba.  Furthermore, Cuba cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 1973, so any restrictions on Israeli goods predated the first Trump presidency by more than 40 years.

Leeds' finest is not the brightest!

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 02.04.26

Thursday delivered a set of fascinating results, with four gains from four wards and some spectacular shifts in voting.  We predicted a mixed bag of results and called one out of four correctly, a step down from our 50 per cent success rate last week.

The free-for-all in Devon was particularly difficult to predict, with no independent candidates in a ward that overwhelmingly backed them last time round.  The Tories were the closest political party on that occasion, but were more than a thousand votes behind the winning candidate.  We thought they would triumph in this well-to-do rural ward, but they slumped to fourth as newcomers the Greens and Reform pushed past them.  However, it was the Lib Dems who stormed to victory, thanks to a huge surge that easily bested second placed Reform.  Labour finished last with just 12 votes.

It was a notional Conservative defence in Bury, with the incumbent having left the party last year following an acrimonious split in the local party.  We predicted a Tory hold, with Reform polling well and Labour slumping to at least third.  Labour did indeed find themselves in third, but it was Reform who triumphed, coming from nowhere to deny the Tories a comeback.

In Luton there was a very strong Lib Dem ward up for grabs.  Their biggest problem in defending the seat was the nature of the incumbent's departure - he was kicked off the council for not attending a single meeting in six months.  Despite this, we saw the Lib Dems holding off a challenge from the independent.  As it turned out, the independent trailed in a pitiful last place and it was Reform who were victorious.  Once again they stormed into first place as newcomers to the ward.

Finally, we get to the Labour defence in Rossendale, Lancashire.  This seat was vacated by an incumbent who upped sticks and left Labour Britain to set up home in Sicily.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Starmer and Reeves.  We predicted a Green gain, with Labour plummeting to at least third and Reform a strong second.  We were spot on with this forecast, as the Greens saw off newcomers Reform by 54 votes.

The Greens did not fare particularly well in the other three seats, with two third places and a fourth.  Reform, on the other hand, were top two finishes all round.  The May elections are now just five weeks away and it's going to be very, very interesting.

Tottington, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

Ref: 929 (39.5%) New Con: 627 (26.7%) -19.1% Lab: 346 (14.7%) -14.5% Grn: 257 (10.9%) New Ind: 193 (8.2%) New

Ref GAIN from Con

Wigmore, Luton Borough Council

Ref: 576 (32.9%) New

LDm: 533 (30.4%) -24.2%

Grn: 344 (19.6%) +10.5%

Lab: 170 (9.7%) -0.3%

Con: 116 (6.6%) -4.4%

Ind: 13 (0.7%) New

Ref GAIN from LDm

Fremington, North Devon District Council

LDm: 752 (49.9%) +42.4%

Ref: 496 (32.9%) New

Grn: 131 (8.7%) New

Con: 116 (7.7%) -4.4%

Lab: 12 (0.8%) -7.8%

LDm GAIN from Ind

Hareholme & Waterfoot, Rossendale Borough Council

Grn: 636 (37.7%) +9.2% Ref: 582 (34.5%) New Lab: 324 (19.2%) -27.9% Con: 115 (6.8%) -17.6% LDm: 31 (1.8%) New

Grn GAIN from Lab

RED CARPET FOR AL-SHARAA

Ahmed al-Sharaa and Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street

On Tuesday, Downing Street rolled out the red carpet for one of the Middle East's most prolific, cunning and enduring Islamic terrorists of all time.  Ahmed al-Sharaa has spent the last 23 years in violent struggle across multiple countries, somehow managing to survive while all the other jihadist leaders around him perished.  Despite being captured in Iraq in 2006 while planting explosives, he was conveniently released on a technicality just days before the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War - the conflict that would eventually deliver him the keys to Damascus as his band of Western-backed jihadists dislodged Bashar al-Assad from power.

Of course Keir Starmer and his globalist predecessors made their bed with al-Sharaa, so they now have to smile for the cameras and gloss over the stench of their own hypocrisy and blood-soaked history of the man who now wears a nice suit.  The West is ultimately responsible for the rise of al-Sharaa and all the corpses that litter his back catalogue of bombings, kidnappings, beheadings and civilian massacres.  Without the 2003 invasion of Iraq none of the chaos that ensued would have been possible and al-Sharaa's rise to power would be consigned to an alternative history.

The new President of Syria has yet to hold an election, but has promised one 'within five years'.  Will it ever happen and if so, will it be free and fair?  Will al-Sharaa turn out to be any more democratically legitimate than al-Assad, the man vilified by the West and who was ultimately removed from power because he was beyond globalist control?

A short introduction to Ahmed al-Sharaa can be viewed on our YouTube channel or watch below (three minute watch).

TOON TUESDAY #97

The Mandelson scandal re-emerged last week, thanks to the hugely convenient 'theft' of Morgan McSweeney's mobile phone.  Important messages surrounding Mandelson's controversial appointment  were thought to be on it and are likely now to never to see the light of day.  McSweeney even managed to give police the wrong address as to where the 'theft' supposedly occurred.  It all stinks.

This we'll get the fuel jokes out of the way first and end on a cheeky nod to all the nonces at the BBC...

Graeme Keyes for Business Post

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Ella Baron for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Nick Newman for The Sunday Times

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

MEME MONDAY #76

The scourge of Islamism remained at the forefront of last week's array of memes.  We may as well pump them out before we are locked up for 'Islamophobia'...

Mon 23 Mar - 216 shares.  One week on there have been no charges in relation to
the Golders Green arson.  A little odd for such a high profile incident

Mon 23 Mar - 123 shares.  Velleman is also involved in Marxist group
Hope Not Hate, which gets most of its funding from trade unions and has
close ties to the Labour party.  Interesting to note that despite Netanyahu's
wars currently raging across the Middle East, Velleman's parents somehow
managed to fly in from Israel for the sentencing

Mon 23 Mar.  The algorithm didn't like this emoji poll and
distribution was limited.  Of the few who responded, 93 opted
for the angry emoji against 31 deluded souls for the teary emoji

Tue 24 Mar - 1 share

Tue 24 Mar - 76 shares

Thu 26 Mar - 9 shares.  One wonders whether the wee man is angling for a spot
on the Westminster gravy train through his new best pal Zack

Thu 26 Mar - 225 shares

Fri 27 Mar - 358 shares.  Best comment hands down - "I thought
that was the FA Cup for a second"

Sat 28 Mar - 166 shares

Sat 28 Mar - 249 shares.  Rayner remains the front runner in betting markets to
succeed Starmer, although the Labour leadership process takes so long that it
could be the autumn before Starmer's successor is confirmed (assuming he
resigns in May, as expected)

Sat 28 Mar - 92 shares.  The Met always downplay attendances, but the
comparison between their estimates in terms of Saturday's clown show against
Yaxley-Lennon's 'Unite the Kingdom' are damning for the left.  As has been shown
by their lacklustre counter-protests in recent years, the left can no longer
mobilise the numbers they once did

Sun 29 Mar - 77 shares.  Some questioned the accuracy of this meme,
but Karl did his research.  Western Europe is changing alarmingly fast and
burying one's head in the sand helps no-one but the colonists

Five Facebook Stories were published last week, including another alternative design for the 'Diversity Is Strength' series.  Karl feels that the Pepe Clown World design is not quite appropriate for some of the worse crimes.

You can help our campaign by purchasing a metaphorical pint here or by donating via PayPal.  This helps keep our campaign paid for and serves as a morale booster, showing that our efforts are truly appreciated!

Thank you.